John Hannah

Radio Times review

This series never disappoints. The writing and acting is consistently top-notch and it balances dark comedy with human sorrow as expertly as a finely tuned racing car. In this episode we finally get to hear Andy's story.

The self-appointed head of the Alcoholics Anonymous weekly meetings has studiously kept his private life away from the rest of the group, but when he turns up in a suit -- or two suits as sarcastic Scot Simon keeps pointing out (the jacket and trousers don't match) -- their suspicions are aroused.

It is soon revealed that Andy (Eddie Marsan) is going on a date, his first ever date, after the meeting. And it is down to Simon (John Hannah), of all people, to persuade him not to wimp out.

Half way through its six-week run, Pete Jackson's thoughtful, recognisable, personally observed comedy arrives at Simon (John Hannah), a member of the Alcoholics Anonymous group around which this series is built. By now they are all getting to know each other but when Simon, a journalist, is asked to tell his story they are taken aback by the reason he hasn't revealed much so far. He was a war correspondent, he says, in Bosnia. Booze helped him get through it. It's a powerful story. But is he being honest with the group? Or himself? Seriously funny.

Radio Times review

"If there's one thing recovering alcoholics aren't short of it's stories," says writer Pete Jackson. And he should know, as this inspired and inspiring sitcom comes from his own experience of being thrown into AA meetings with a truly disparate group of people and then finding that it's more than a problem with drink that binds them together. The fact that Jackson is working with one of the finest comedy casts on radio for years helps as well.

The previous story centred on the aggressive snob Fiona, played by Rebecca Front (be sure to listen on iPlayer if you missed it). This story belongs to Julie (played by Sue Johnston), a woman who did not start drinking, or really living, until she hit 60. Paul Kaye, John Hannah, Eddie Marsan and Julia Deakin are the rest of the players and the series is set to become a classic.

I hope that Radio 4 makes much more use of Jackson over the coming months. He's a comedy writer with talent and a heart.

Bold, bright, original comedy by Pete Jackson with a sparkling cast. Bold? It's set in a weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Bright? It's recognisably real but not self conscious about it. Original? It's honest about its characters. Tonight we meet Fiona, a banker who despises everyone se4lse, has only come because her employer made her, says she makes more money than the rest of them put together. Sparking cast? Fiona is played by Rebecca Front, Sue Johnston plays a housewife, John Hannah a journalist and Eddie Marsan is Andy, who runs the group.

Blessed with an excellent cast including John Hannah, Sue Johnston and Paul Kaye, this absorbing comedy drama focuses on a group of recovering alcoholics at their AA meetings. Writer Pete Jackson, who has been through the process himself and also co-stars as Johnny, picks up on the members' insecurities as they open up to each other, in some cases even finding love. Today, insufferable banker Fiona (Rebecca Front) marvels at her colleagues' decision to send her there.

Pete Jackson's new comedy series comes from his own experience at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. It's funny, wry, recognisable. Each week his characters pool experiences while harbouring reservations. Here, for instance, is Fiona (Rebecca Front), ex-banker, competitive, bit of a snob, a sceptic,. What can she have in common with these losers? Independents Lucky Giant have a stellar cast for this (John Hannah, Sue Johnston) and they shine.

John Hannah and Sue Johnson are among the star studded cast of an unusual new six-part comedy, set in Alcoholics Anonymous, based on author Pete Jackson's personal experience. At AA meetings he found, as many do, real support from the pooled experiences of very different people, all there for one reason yet all with their own personal emotional baggage. We follow the lives of five recovering alcoholics as they get to know each other , hate each other, fight, laugh, learn as they each tell their stories. We star with Fiona (played by Rebecca Front), a competitive ex-banker, a bit of a snob. Can she come to terms with AA's essential egalitarianism?

While BBC One (10.35pm) and ITV (10.40pm) devote themselves to the serious business of the referendum results, Channel 4 has something more playful under its kilt, a somewhat scrappy mockumentary following Yes voters and Unionists flocking towards the booths with "the tools of democracy: a pencil and a wee bit of string". Mark (John Hannah) can't make up his mind: David Bowie thinks we're better together, he notes. "But can you trust Bowie? He did Space Oddity, but he also did that other shite with glass spiders as well..."

Charlie Brooker's police drama spoof returned for a third double bill last week, with DI Jack Cloth (John Hannah) and Suranne Jones's DI Anne Oldman (pronounced "an old man", a joke that - honestly - only improves with repetition) investigating the death of Cloth's brother. To describe the comedy as hit and miss would be an understatement: Brooker unselfconsciously bombards the audience with material that veers from the tedious to the sublimely silly.

It's co-written by Charlie Brooker and Daniel Maier, whose writing credits include Harry Hill's TV Burp, and there's a lot of Burp in both the affectionate spoofing of British television conventions and the relentless onslaught of silliness. The convoluted plots of police procedurals usually require some viewer concentration, but here it's the gags that have you reaching for rewind on the TiVo remote. There are so many of them - visual, verbal, saucy and slapstick - that to watch A Touch of Cloth is to be constantly plagued by the fear that you've missed something brilliant.

Casting John Hannah as DI Jack Frost and Suranne Jones as DC Anne Oldman (pronounced "an old man") is a particular joy, given both of them have often appeared in exactly the kind of series ridiculed here. It wouldn't be half as much fun to have a comedian deliver lines like, "You never get used to the way you get used to it and that takes some getting used to" and keep a straight face.

This season there's also new blood in the shape of Doctor Who's Karen Gillan as... er... Kerry Newblood. It's an opportunity to send up all those clichés pertaining to rookies, of which there are plenty. Not that there's any danger of the writers running out of material. As long as TV's obsession with grisly murders and maverick cops continues, there'll always be a case for DCI Cloth to solve.